Decision-making and emotions in the contested information environment

M.W. Haas; L.M. Hirshfield; P.V. Ponangi; P. Kidambi; D. Rao; N. Edala; E. Armbrust; M. Fendley; S. Narayanan

Research Article

Decision-making and emotions in the contested information environment

Download1006 downloads

Cite: BibTeX Plain Text

@ARTICLE{10.4108/trans.sesa.01-06.2013.e3,
    author={M.W. Haas and L.M. Hirshfield and P.V. Ponangi and P. Kidambi and D. Rao and N. Edala and E. Armbrust and M. Fendley and S. Narayanan},
    title={Decision-making and emotions in the contested information environment},
    journal={EAI Endorsed Transactions on Security and Safety},
    volume={1},
    number={2},
    publisher={ICST},
    journal_a={SESA},
    year={2013},
    month={5},
    keywords={Information Operations, Decision-making, emotion, situation awareness, affective computing, adaptive interfaces},
    doi={10.4108/trans.sesa.01-06.2013.e3}
}

M.W. Haas
L.M. Hirshfield
P.V. Ponangi
P. Kidambi
D. Rao
N. Edala
E. Armbrust
M. Fendley
S. Narayanan
Year: 2013
Decision-making and emotions in the contested information environment
SESA
ICST
DOI: 10.4108/trans.sesa.01-06.2013.e3

M.W. Haas¹^,*, L.M. Hirshfield², P.V. Ponangi³, P. Kidambi³, D. Rao⁴, N. Edala³, E. Armbrust⁵, M. Fendley³, S. Narayanan³

1: Department of Systems Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology,2950 Hobson Way, Wright-Patterson AFB, OHIO, USA – 45433
2: S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, 215 University Place, Syracuse, NEW YORK – 13244
3: College of Engineering & Computer Science, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OHIO, USA – 45435
4: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Miami University, Oxford, OHIO, USA – 45056
5: Warfighter Interface Division, Air Force Research Laboratory, 2510 5th Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH – 45433

*Contact email: michael.haas@afit.edu

Abstract

Future conflicts will necessitate the ability to conduct effective military operations in a contested information environment. The building and maintaining of robust situational awareness, protection of decision-making effectiveness of individuals and teams, fighting through information attacks from both in, and through, the cyberspace domain, will be essential. Increasing the knowledge of the mechanisms involved in degrading task performance and decision-making during cyber attacks will enable the development of advanced human-centered defensive techniques that aid fight-through capability. In this position paper, the development and evaluation of software that simulates real-time and persistent manipulation of the information environment is discussed. Results of the evaluation indicated that the task performance of a team of decision-makers performing collaborative tasks could be degraded through real-time manipulation of cyberspace content and operation. The paper concludes with a discussion of focus and direction for future research and development. It is suggested that the building of a deeper understanding of the perceptual and cognitive factors that are significant in the relationship between information environment manipulation and reduction in task performance is required. This understanding will aid in the defence of cyberspace attacks, will aid in fight through and mission assurance, and will aid the Information Operations community.

Keywords: Information Operations, Decision-making, emotion, situation awareness, affective computing, adaptive interfaces

Received: 2012-03-27
Accepted: 2013-03-27
Published: 2013-05-03
Publisher: ICST

: http://dx.doi.org/10.4108/trans.sesa.01-06.2013.e3

Copyright © 2013 Haas et al., licensed to ICST. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unlimited use, distribution and reproduction in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited.